Sustainable approach for dissimilar joining of austenitic (SS316L)-ferritic (SS-430) stainless steel using microwave energy.

This research is based on sustainable approach for microwave joining of ferritic stainless steel (SS-430) and austenitic stainless steel (SS-316L) using Nickel (Ni) powder as an additive material. The fabricated weldment revealed sound metallurgical bonding with a complete melting of sandwich layer along with the melting of a thin layer of faying surfaces to be joined. The X-ray diffraction study revealed the formation of various intermetallic and carbides (Cr₃C₂, Mo₂C and martensite) in the joint region. There is significant grain growth with coarse ferritic along with martensite phase at the grain boundaries in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of the SS-430 and along the faying surfaces of SS-430 was observed. The average microhardness of the joint zone was observed to be about 350 ± 30 HV with porosity in the range of 1–1.3%. The fabricated weldment revealed a brittle mode of failure from the ferritic HAZ area with marginal elongation (about 7.1%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]